1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for mounting a door wire harness and a method for installing that structure. In a system where a door wire harness (also referred to simply as a “door harness”) is wired in a door panel of a vehicle and pulled toward its body panel, the edge face of the door panel facing the corresponding edge of the body panel is usually provided with a hole through which the wire harness is passed. The present invention concerns in particular a system by which the wire harness is wired from a door inner panel toward the body panel.
2. Description of Background Information
The door inner panel of a vehicle is arranged to be aligned with the body panel via its edge face. In accordance with standard practice, the door harness is extracted from inside the door inner panel through a hole provided in the edge face of the door inner panel, the door harness being connected to a wire harness in the body panel. The drawbacks of this practice are that operations of passing the door harness into the hole are carried out in the door inner panel, where the work cannot be controlled visually, and require a strong pulling force. A further drawback is that when a grommet (or duct) is mounted around the door harness, it is very difficult to engage it with the hole of the edge face.
For the above reasons, recent developments led to the use of a so-called “passwork-less grommet (or duct)”, which eliminates harness-passing for mounting the door harness.
For instance, patent document JP-A-Hei 8-33166 discloses a passwork-less grommet 1 used in a structure for mounting a door harness, as shown in FIG. 1. Typically, this “passwork-less grommet 1” comprises a base portion 2 and a tubular portion 3 projecting therefrom. A door harness W is passed through this tubular portion 3. The base portion 2 comprises a pair of fitting portions 4 at its top and bottom ends when viewed in FIG. 1. The door inner panel D, into which “the passwork-less grommet 1” is mounted, has an edge face 5 that confronts a corresponding edge of the body panel when the door is closed. The edge face 5 comprises a slide channel 6. This slide channel 6 has confronting sidewalls (top and bottom sidewalls in FIG. 1), each of which is provided with a grooved portion 7 adapted to receive the corresponding fitting portions 4.
The door harness W is initially placed near the base portion 2 of the grommet 1, and inserted into the tubular portion 3. Then, the fitting portions 4 are inserted into the grooved portion 7, so that the passwork-less grommet 1 fits into the slide channels 6. Thereafter, a weather strip 8 is installed from above the passwork-less grommet 1.
In the above construction, the slide channels 6 and the grooved portions 7 are formed in the edge face of the door inner panel D by stamping. This poses problems in that stamping out such a complex configuration is a very difficult and costly task. Moreover, such a fitting structure cannot secure a good sealing. Likewise, for instance, a patent document JP-A-Hei 11-20573 discloses a “passwork-less” grommet 1 used in a structure for mounting a door harness, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. Typically, this passwork-less grommet 1 comprises a cylindrical bellows portion 60, through which is passed the door harness W when it is pulled out from the door inner panel D. This grommet 1 also comprises a mounting panel 62 that is formed of a substantially flat sheet bent into an L shape. This mounting panel 62 is placed along the corner portion formed by respectively the inward face and edge face of the door inner panel D, where the door harness W can pass inside it. The door harness W is then protected by a protective cover 64 applied from the inward side (compartment side). Further, a weather strip 65 is mounted across the passwork-less grommet 1.
In the above construction, the door harness W is not pulled out from the hole provided in the door inner panel D as in the past. Instead, the door harness W can be wired from the inward face of the door inner panel D to its edge face along the corner portion, and extended toward the body panel B. Further, the direction of the door harness W is changed upwardly or downwardly, at the fulcrum position of the hinge between the door and the vehicle body. Accordingly, when the door is opened or closed, the door harness W is twisted, but not stretched or compressed.
However, the above structure requires the bellows portion 60, the mounting panel 62 and the protective cover 64 to install the door harness W in the door inner panel D. Such a design increases the number of component parts, and thus costs, and assembly work becomes complicated.